Craic is an Irish word pronounced "crack" that basically means anything fun. My friend Nicola loves to say that things are going to be "great craic" or that is was great craic. This week has been rather exciting and busy. Sunday night Heidi and I were out far too late at the pub and ended up getting a taxi home with Nicola. Monday I ended up doing a mild form of child care. Mike and Julia's friend Trish has an eleven year old daughter named Sarah. Sarah had hurt her arm last week and was going easy on it. Then to top it all off she got sick over the weekend. Trish had to work on Monday do Heidi and I went over to keep an eye on Sarah. She was a very easy charge which was excellent for Heidi and I in our not so good shape after a late night. We invited Mike and Julia over to Trish's for dinner along with a few other friends. It was a great evening. I fried up some chicken, pineapple, and bananas as part of the meal. It was a great evening with lots of laughter and good wine and food.
Tuesday Nicola invited Heidi and I to go to Cork with her for the night as it was her friend Ashling's birthday. We drove out around 7:30 and got there close to 9. We were staying at Ashling 's apartment/dorm and that's where the beginning of the party was taking place. It was great craic :) There were around thirty people at the apartment and we then moved on to one of the best pubs in Cork. It is called the Baily and has three floors. It was packed which surprised me as it was only Tuesday night. There were about fifteen of us who ended up there and had a wonderful time dancing. Now, I have to say that my choice of shoes became largely annoying at this point. I was wearing my very adorable three inch stilettos. And let me tell you, after about four hours in them my feet started to get blisters. When we finally left the pub I could hardly walk. I told Nicola I was taking them off and she cried "No, you'll step on a piece of glass and get AIDS!!!" I laughed and told her I had walked in far worse places barefoot :) We went to a McDonalds as it was the only place still open and we were all craving fries. We took a taxi home and six of us crammed into one small dorm room to sleep. I was sleeping on the floor with three other girls on top of couch cushions. It was altogether a wonderful experience.
The past few nights and days have been rather uneventful compared to the start of the week. But that's ok, I have high hopes for this weekend. It turns out that Ashling, the girl who's birthday it was, lives just down the road from me and it home every weekend. I am going to see if we can get something together for tomorrow. Right now I am off to bed as it was kind of a crazy day. Julia threw out her back last night and was in horrible pain today. The osteopath is out of his office until next week so she's hoping it corrects itself. Then to top all of the off the computer crashed and Mike was working on that all day. All in all we made it through, but it was busy. Luckily our guests that are with us right now are very down to earth and easy going.
Hope everyone at home is doing well. Just for an itinerary update: I am at Carbery Cottage until March 14 which is a Monday morning. Then I am taking the bus to Galway where I will be until Wednesday night or Thursday morning. Thursday evening, the 17th, I fly to London to stay with my friend Rachel. And yes, I did realize that I am LEAVING Ireland on St. Patrick's Day, but oh well. The plane ticket was about $20 cheaper... I come back to Ireland on March 28. I go to my next WWOOFing place on April 3 and don't know what I'm doing after I come back from London until then. And of course, I fly home on April 28. Ok, now for bed, more later.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Road Bowling
Did you know that in Ireland then have a game called "road bowling"? I kid you not, they all go stand out in the middle of the road and roll a very heavy ball down the street. They don't put any signs and there is no notification. You will be innocently driving along and go around a corner to find a group of people (usually all men) standing around with a huge ball. Apparently there is quite a lot of money in this sport. The use clumps of grass and dirt to mark the spots where the ball stopped. Then whomever rolls it the furthest is the winner, or as far as I can tell. If they ever thought about starting anything like it in the states the cops would be all over you.
Today I went in the ocean. That's right, on February 19th I went in the Atlantic. I can't say I went swimming as it wasn't really like that. Heidi and I walked down to the water straight down from Carbery Cottage. It's quite rocky down there with no sandy bits. The tide was out and so we had to walk down where ever we could to get the water. I then proceeded to strip down to my swimsuit bottoms and a tank top. The rocks were kinda sharp so I ended up going in with my hiking shoes on. The waves were rather rough coming onto the rocks which made me nervous about letting go and diving in. I didn't want to come crashing back on the sharp rocks. So I devised my brilliant plan: I crouched down on the rock and held on with my hands. Then when the waves would come in I would stick my head under the water. I only managed to do this twice before my head went numb. But I went swimming in the Atlantic in February. I think that's a pretty awesome accomplishment. And it wasn't in some lame part like going off of the Caribbean Islands. No, it was off the coast of Ireland. Yeah, beat that :)
This past week was pretty busy. We had a full house on Wednesday just for the one night. So there was us getting the rooms ready for them to come and then stripping them down after they left. For me this meant lots of vacuuming, mopping, dusting, making beds, and ironing. I don't mind doing any of it, I was just bummed I didn't get to go outside. I really like doing the outside work in the fresh air. It was ok too because we had some horrible rain this week. Yesterday was especially terrible. It just poured all morning. As soon as the sun came out in the afternoon I jumped at the chance to go for a quick walk. Oh, I just had a poached duck egg for lunch. That I got out of the duck house this morning. The duck house is really gross because that's how they like it. They actually get scared when we put fresh straw in for them. They enjoy living in their own filth. This has the unfortunate effect of making their eggs really gross to pick up. I have to take them in and wash them off as they get horribly covered with their own waste. But after that they taste delicious. And no one eats the shell anyways.
This week was really fun. Heidi and I went out with some locals on Wednesday night and played a lot of pool. I actually didn't do too bad, i mean I probably sunk at least two balls every game. Last Sunday was the usual at Eileen's. She had a really good Scottish guy playing. He's a local and plays frequently. I'm excited to see who will be there tomorrow night. Otherwise the week has been fairly uneventful. On Monday I am going to stay with Julia's daughter Emma who has an alpaca farm about thirty minutes from here. She has two little boys name Luca and Reuben. I am going to go help her and her husband with some outside and inside work. The boys are 7 and 9 (I'm pretty sure) and love to play games. I'll be there until Thursday or so. It will be nice to have a bit of a change in scenery.
On Wednesday I bought my plane tickets to London! I'm going there from March 17 to the 28. Then I have a few days free before I go to my other WWOOFing job in April. I can't wait to see Rachel as i haven't seen her in almost three years. She is of course having a party to celebrate my arrival two nights after I get there. It should be a blast!
Ok, well I'm off to finish my book. Hope everyone is staying sane at home. Love to you all
Today I went in the ocean. That's right, on February 19th I went in the Atlantic. I can't say I went swimming as it wasn't really like that. Heidi and I walked down to the water straight down from Carbery Cottage. It's quite rocky down there with no sandy bits. The tide was out and so we had to walk down where ever we could to get the water. I then proceeded to strip down to my swimsuit bottoms and a tank top. The rocks were kinda sharp so I ended up going in with my hiking shoes on. The waves were rather rough coming onto the rocks which made me nervous about letting go and diving in. I didn't want to come crashing back on the sharp rocks. So I devised my brilliant plan: I crouched down on the rock and held on with my hands. Then when the waves would come in I would stick my head under the water. I only managed to do this twice before my head went numb. But I went swimming in the Atlantic in February. I think that's a pretty awesome accomplishment. And it wasn't in some lame part like going off of the Caribbean Islands. No, it was off the coast of Ireland. Yeah, beat that :)
This past week was pretty busy. We had a full house on Wednesday just for the one night. So there was us getting the rooms ready for them to come and then stripping them down after they left. For me this meant lots of vacuuming, mopping, dusting, making beds, and ironing. I don't mind doing any of it, I was just bummed I didn't get to go outside. I really like doing the outside work in the fresh air. It was ok too because we had some horrible rain this week. Yesterday was especially terrible. It just poured all morning. As soon as the sun came out in the afternoon I jumped at the chance to go for a quick walk. Oh, I just had a poached duck egg for lunch. That I got out of the duck house this morning. The duck house is really gross because that's how they like it. They actually get scared when we put fresh straw in for them. They enjoy living in their own filth. This has the unfortunate effect of making their eggs really gross to pick up. I have to take them in and wash them off as they get horribly covered with their own waste. But after that they taste delicious. And no one eats the shell anyways.
This week was really fun. Heidi and I went out with some locals on Wednesday night and played a lot of pool. I actually didn't do too bad, i mean I probably sunk at least two balls every game. Last Sunday was the usual at Eileen's. She had a really good Scottish guy playing. He's a local and plays frequently. I'm excited to see who will be there tomorrow night. Otherwise the week has been fairly uneventful. On Monday I am going to stay with Julia's daughter Emma who has an alpaca farm about thirty minutes from here. She has two little boys name Luca and Reuben. I am going to go help her and her husband with some outside and inside work. The boys are 7 and 9 (I'm pretty sure) and love to play games. I'll be there until Thursday or so. It will be nice to have a bit of a change in scenery.
On Wednesday I bought my plane tickets to London! I'm going there from March 17 to the 28. Then I have a few days free before I go to my other WWOOFing job in April. I can't wait to see Rachel as i haven't seen her in almost three years. She is of course having a party to celebrate my arrival two nights after I get there. It should be a blast!
Ok, well I'm off to finish my book. Hope everyone is staying sane at home. Love to you all
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Sunshine and Soft Days
In Ireland they have "soft days". In any other country we would call these days gray and wet, complete with a steady drizzle from sunrise to sunset. That is in other countries. Here in Ireland they are "soft" with the steady rain a blessing that everyone knows is necessary for the green and fertile fields. Yesterday began as a soft day but then turned a little too wet, even for the Irish. I realized the difference is that on the soft days you can still go about your daily business with little to no inconvenience. The rain is light enough you hardly notice that it's there, you just may have to change when you get home as you will be a little damp. This was not the case yesterday - every time I ventured out I got soaked to the bone in a matter of seconds. Julia and I went into Bantry yesterday so that I could see the doctor. I had to get an antibiotic for the sinus infection I have. It's not too bad, just terribly annoying. We ended up having to drive to the different stores that we had to go to even though Bantry is a very small town. It was raining cats and dogs! I have discovered that I much prefer the soft days and their
calm wetness.
On Sunday evening we went out to one of the local pubs, Eileen's. Every Sunday she has live music and Mike and Julia make it a regular occasion. This past Sunday it was a mother/daughter duet who were quite lovely. As it was one of the last nights for Renny and Jean we got them up to play as well. Jean sang and played a couple of songs and Renny played a few while Heidi sang before doing some of his own. I loved the whole atmosphere of the evening, with the warm fire and the Irish blokes discussing the week's happenings. There was one man that they had warned me about, Finbar. Finbar is a gentleman in his early forties who looks to be in his mid fifties. He has a very bushy beard and mustache that are always full of foam from his excessive drinking. On his head we wears an old sailors hat. He staggers around the bar asking all the women to dance with him. Oh, and he has very tight pants :( He spotted me rather quickly and asked/pulled me on the dance floor. There he proceeded to dance with me, I had to keep pulling away a bit just to not get too close. He is a very kind hearted man, he just gets a little too exuberant/drunk. He told me many times how pretty I am and that I am a lovely dancer. He also asked me repeatedly if I was married or had a boyfriend. Apparently he has proposed to most of the women there. I managed to keep a marriage proposal at bay (at least for the moment) and insisted a couple of times, when he got a bit too persistent, that I really had to go talk to Renny or Heidi. All in all he was quite the stereotypical drunken Irish man in the bar. After our excitement at Eileen's we went to a much quieter pub to finish off the evening. The couple who own the second bar are quite a pair, at least the wife is rather interesting. As a visiting friend of ours said "She must have eaten all the lemons for her face to look like that!" Julia hushed her saying "We have to live here with her!" It was a very different atmosphere then our first place. When Heidi asked for a cider the sour puss woman said "That's an awful lot for just you." I think there is definitely something wrong for a person like that to be running a bar.
Monday was a most excellent day. The sun was shining and I got a large amount of weeding done in the gardens. To top of a beautiful morning and early afternoon my luggage finally arrived at 3:30. I excitedly checked that nothing was opened or missing. Then I gratefully took a shower and put on a full set of CLEAN clothes. I still had about forty-five minutes before I had to feed the animals so I walked up into the hills a bit to get some pictures of the sun setting. It was magical as it sunk over the hills, casting an orange-red glow on everything. I also saw a rainbow while I was outside working on Monday. I debated with myself for a good twenty minutes about going to find the pot of gold at the end. Then I decided that I would surely see another one at a more convenient time. I was rather dirty and didn't want to go visit the leprechauns in my coveralls! Monday night Renny took us all out to dinner for a last supper. We ate at a pub in Bantry called "The Snug". It was very good, I had the vegetarian lasagna, and the decor was excellent. There was a tree growing out of the middle of our table! There were also a numerous number of tress around the place. I came up with two reasons for the name: One is that the woman's bathroom is rather snug. Two is that the portions are so large that when you leave your pants feel very snug. It was a lovely evening and we all miss Jean and Renny very much.
Tuesday was dedicated to painting as it was sunny again. I have been painting all of the wood outside - the fences, chicken coop, duck house - green. That is what I did this morning as well. Tuesday afternoon Renny gave Heidi and I a ride into town when he was leaving. We had some errands to run and a few items to post. We walked back from town which takes about and hour and a half. It was a rather soft afternoon and when we were about twenty minutes from the cottage a car stopped in front of us. It was our friend Sheila who teaches woodworking at a local school. She gave us a lift to the house her friend is watching right now. We all sat down for a cup of tea and a chat. I was very grateful to be out of the drizzle with a warm mug in my hands. It was a very pleasant afternoon.
I'm off for now. I'm putting up some pictures and a couple videos as well. So far I predict the Ireland and I are going to become great friends...
calm wetness.
On Sunday evening we went out to one of the local pubs, Eileen's. Every Sunday she has live music and Mike and Julia make it a regular occasion. This past Sunday it was a mother/daughter duet who were quite lovely. As it was one of the last nights for Renny and Jean we got them up to play as well. Jean sang and played a couple of songs and Renny played a few while Heidi sang before doing some of his own. I loved the whole atmosphere of the evening, with the warm fire and the Irish blokes discussing the week's happenings. There was one man that they had warned me about, Finbar. Finbar is a gentleman in his early forties who looks to be in his mid fifties. He has a very bushy beard and mustache that are always full of foam from his excessive drinking. On his head we wears an old sailors hat. He staggers around the bar asking all the women to dance with him. Oh, and he has very tight pants :( He spotted me rather quickly and asked/pulled me on the dance floor. There he proceeded to dance with me, I had to keep pulling away a bit just to not get too close. He is a very kind hearted man, he just gets a little too exuberant/drunk. He told me many times how pretty I am and that I am a lovely dancer. He also asked me repeatedly if I was married or had a boyfriend. Apparently he has proposed to most of the women there. I managed to keep a marriage proposal at bay (at least for the moment) and insisted a couple of times, when he got a bit too persistent, that I really had to go talk to Renny or Heidi. All in all he was quite the stereotypical drunken Irish man in the bar. After our excitement at Eileen's we went to a much quieter pub to finish off the evening. The couple who own the second bar are quite a pair, at least the wife is rather interesting. As a visiting friend of ours said "She must have eaten all the lemons for her face to look like that!" Julia hushed her saying "We have to live here with her!" It was a very different atmosphere then our first place. When Heidi asked for a cider the sour puss woman said "That's an awful lot for just you." I think there is definitely something wrong for a person like that to be running a bar.
Monday was a most excellent day. The sun was shining and I got a large amount of weeding done in the gardens. To top of a beautiful morning and early afternoon my luggage finally arrived at 3:30. I excitedly checked that nothing was opened or missing. Then I gratefully took a shower and put on a full set of CLEAN clothes. I still had about forty-five minutes before I had to feed the animals so I walked up into the hills a bit to get some pictures of the sun setting. It was magical as it sunk over the hills, casting an orange-red glow on everything. I also saw a rainbow while I was outside working on Monday. I debated with myself for a good twenty minutes about going to find the pot of gold at the end. Then I decided that I would surely see another one at a more convenient time. I was rather dirty and didn't want to go visit the leprechauns in my coveralls! Monday night Renny took us all out to dinner for a last supper. We ate at a pub in Bantry called "The Snug". It was very good, I had the vegetarian lasagna, and the decor was excellent. There was a tree growing out of the middle of our table! There were also a numerous number of tress around the place. I came up with two reasons for the name: One is that the woman's bathroom is rather snug. Two is that the portions are so large that when you leave your pants feel very snug. It was a lovely evening and we all miss Jean and Renny very much.
Tuesday was dedicated to painting as it was sunny again. I have been painting all of the wood outside - the fences, chicken coop, duck house - green. That is what I did this morning as well. Tuesday afternoon Renny gave Heidi and I a ride into town when he was leaving. We had some errands to run and a few items to post. We walked back from town which takes about and hour and a half. It was a rather soft afternoon and when we were about twenty minutes from the cottage a car stopped in front of us. It was our friend Sheila who teaches woodworking at a local school. She gave us a lift to the house her friend is watching right now. We all sat down for a cup of tea and a chat. I was very grateful to be out of the drizzle with a warm mug in my hands. It was a very pleasant afternoon.
I'm off for now. I'm putting up some pictures and a couple videos as well. So far I predict the Ireland and I are going to become great friends...
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Mmm, Salty...
It is Saturday evening of my fifth day in Ireland. To give the bad news first, my checked bag with all of my stuff still has not arrived. I have called the airline everyday only to be put on hold for a minimum of 10 minutes every time. Today it was a whopping 22 minute call and I believe I actually talked to someone for maybe a minute and a half. So I have resorted to sending them a rather frustrated and probably slightly nasty e-mail (oops). To add a sense or urgency I told them that I have medications in my bag that I need (floridex and vitamin D tablets, but they don't need to know that). I am managing to keep a cheerful face though. Heidi has been a dear in lending me some clothes to wear. Also I did find out that they will refund me up to 60 euro a day for three days. I took advantage of that Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Of course with it being me, along with some essentials like contact solution, I had to buy an adorable pair of black lace heels (they were on sale). Luckily the receipt that I am to send in only says that I purchased shoes and who's to say that they weren't necessary? I could have had a dinner party I had to attend :)
Everyone here is so very nice! Mike and Julia are wonderful; they feed me great food and are a pleasure to chat with. Heidi is very sweet. John arrived back last night; he had been staying with Julia's daughter Emma who has an alpaca farm nearby. He is from France and has been here for a month. He leaves next Saturday. On Thursday I did some ironing and arranging as well as a bit of weeding outdoors. Yesterday I made some quiches and a Mississippi Cake. Today John and I did some more weeding and I gave the hedge a haircut. Mike joked that the hedge looked like his haircut, which is rather long and ragged. Julia said it was a great improvement so no matter what I am happy. I then came in for a bit and made some cardamom ice cream. This afternoon John and I walked down to the water which was is quite a state today! The waves were absolutely huge!! The wind was also very strong and I was afraid I would be blown away. Being young and brave (!) John and I decided to go over the stone wall and walk along the wet rocks at the coast. a couple times I had to cling to the grasses on the sides of the cliffs so as not to fall! There are some lovely pictures I took today that I put up of the wild water. I felt like a true adventurer. I was a little hesitant at first about getting so close to the water as I didn't want to get the few clothes I have soaked, but as we were standing by the wall a huge wave came up and soaked up both. I gasped and licked the water from my lips. Mmm, salty. I decided that this is what I am here for: adventure. With a smile I threw caution to the wind and hopped over the wall. There was only one really frightening moment when John decided that we should jump a gap to continue on. The drop was only about 8 feet or so but I fear I chickened out. I found a spot that I could jump down and then John helped me up the over side. It was a little further away from the very angry sea and felt marginally safer. We ended up standing on a 20 foot plateau that would get swept with water every few minutes causing me to jump back in surprise. It was beautiful!
I am loving it over here, though it is a bit cold and my wool undergarments (in my missing bag) would be very much appreciated. But oh well, I am in the land of the wet, green, and friendly. I have been going to bed rather early as I still haven't quite gotten used to the time difference (I wake up at 3am our time). Today I feel much more awake; I think that the cold ocean water has shocked me into feeling chipper. I am ready for many more daring excursions. Love to all at home, Hannah
Everyone here is so very nice! Mike and Julia are wonderful; they feed me great food and are a pleasure to chat with. Heidi is very sweet. John arrived back last night; he had been staying with Julia's daughter Emma who has an alpaca farm nearby. He is from France and has been here for a month. He leaves next Saturday. On Thursday I did some ironing and arranging as well as a bit of weeding outdoors. Yesterday I made some quiches and a Mississippi Cake. Today John and I did some more weeding and I gave the hedge a haircut. Mike joked that the hedge looked like his haircut, which is rather long and ragged. Julia said it was a great improvement so no matter what I am happy. I then came in for a bit and made some cardamom ice cream. This afternoon John and I walked down to the water which was is quite a state today! The waves were absolutely huge!! The wind was also very strong and I was afraid I would be blown away. Being young and brave (!) John and I decided to go over the stone wall and walk along the wet rocks at the coast. a couple times I had to cling to the grasses on the sides of the cliffs so as not to fall! There are some lovely pictures I took today that I put up of the wild water. I felt like a true adventurer. I was a little hesitant at first about getting so close to the water as I didn't want to get the few clothes I have soaked, but as we were standing by the wall a huge wave came up and soaked up both. I gasped and licked the water from my lips. Mmm, salty. I decided that this is what I am here for: adventure. With a smile I threw caution to the wind and hopped over the wall. There was only one really frightening moment when John decided that we should jump a gap to continue on. The drop was only about 8 feet or so but I fear I chickened out. I found a spot that I could jump down and then John helped me up the over side. It was a little further away from the very angry sea and felt marginally safer. We ended up standing on a 20 foot plateau that would get swept with water every few minutes causing me to jump back in surprise. It was beautiful!
I am loving it over here, though it is a bit cold and my wool undergarments (in my missing bag) would be very much appreciated. But oh well, I am in the land of the wet, green, and friendly. I have been going to bed rather early as I still haven't quite gotten used to the time difference (I wake up at 3am our time). Today I feel much more awake; I think that the cold ocean water has shocked me into feeling chipper. I am ready for many more daring excursions. Love to all at home, Hannah
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Exhaustion and Sweet Green Fields
After a long and rather tiring journey I have arrived at my first destination of Carbery Cottage near Durrus in Southern Cork county. I left Traverse City Cherry Capital airport on Monday afternoon and flew to Chicago. From there I took the plane to Dublin. It was a long overnight flight in which I I couldn't manage to sleep a wink. I was seated next to a very kind gentleman in his early forties. He was from Scotland but lives in Chicago. We had a lovely conversation of travel and the like and he ended up giving me his business card. When I finally arrived in Dublin I was surprised by the style and decor of the airport. Have you ever been to Central Grade school? That's what the airport was like. No joke, it reminded me of the inside of an old school or government building. I waited forever to go through security as the gentleman in front of me seemed to be having considerable problems with his passport. When I finally got the the baggage terminal I was in for a surprise: my bag had failed to make the connection to Dublin from Chicago. Consequently I am a little short on clean clothes at the moment... After filing for my bag to be delivered to where I am staying I made mt way outside. It was a beautiful, sunny morning; right around 9am local time (4am back home). I managed to find a bus that would take me into the city center and from there attempt to locate the bus station. Once the bus started moving I realized that there was a complete and utter lack of signs. I mean none at all. No notice on the bus where it was stopping and no street signs on the stop itself. Luckily I am not shy and asked a guy sitting behind me. He said that he would let me know when I had to get off. Apparently you just have to know the route to be able to navigate. He also gave me excellent directions to the main bus station from my stop. I managed to find it right around 10am and secure my bus ticket for the next leg of my journey.
I had about two hours before my bus left from Dublin to Cork and so decided to wander around a bit. I walked back towards the town center and found an internet cafe from which I was able to send my parents an e-mail. I then asked the woman at the counter for directions to a phone store. I found it without minimal difficulties; I only went the wrong way about three times :) and purchased a SIM card and minutes for my Irish cell phone. I then made my way back to the bus station, got some crap food and got on the bus. It was about a four hour bus ride and I managed to get a bit of sleep. In Cork I also had a two hour layover. I wandered around for a bit and found some more food. From Cork I went to Bantry where I arrived at 8:15pm. There Julia (one of the owners of Carbery Cottage) picked me up and took me to where I am now. At the cottage I met Mike (the other owner) and Heidi (an american woman they met ten years ago hitchhiking through Ireland). I also met the four dogs, Bungi, Shoefly, Darcy, and (I'm blanking on the last one...). We chatted for a bit before I wearily got in the shower and fell promptly asleep. I woke up this morning well rested to rain. Luckily it cleared up rather quickly but seems to be returning at the moment. Heidi and I took the dogs out to run around and I also met the goat and two ponies. There are also some ducks and about twenty chickens. I have a few pictures right now (though they turned out slightly blue) and will post some more later (hopefully not blueish).
Tomorrow I start work around the cottage and am looking forward to it. Everyone here is very sweet and nice. Heidi told me I found the right, and best, place to be :) Currently there are no guests besides an Australian musician who leaves in a week. I can't wait to explore some more!!!
I had about two hours before my bus left from Dublin to Cork and so decided to wander around a bit. I walked back towards the town center and found an internet cafe from which I was able to send my parents an e-mail. I then asked the woman at the counter for directions to a phone store. I found it without minimal difficulties; I only went the wrong way about three times :) and purchased a SIM card and minutes for my Irish cell phone. I then made my way back to the bus station, got some crap food and got on the bus. It was about a four hour bus ride and I managed to get a bit of sleep. In Cork I also had a two hour layover. I wandered around for a bit and found some more food. From Cork I went to Bantry where I arrived at 8:15pm. There Julia (one of the owners of Carbery Cottage) picked me up and took me to where I am now. At the cottage I met Mike (the other owner) and Heidi (an american woman they met ten years ago hitchhiking through Ireland). I also met the four dogs, Bungi, Shoefly, Darcy, and (I'm blanking on the last one...). We chatted for a bit before I wearily got in the shower and fell promptly asleep. I woke up this morning well rested to rain. Luckily it cleared up rather quickly but seems to be returning at the moment. Heidi and I took the dogs out to run around and I also met the goat and two ponies. There are also some ducks and about twenty chickens. I have a few pictures right now (though they turned out slightly blue) and will post some more later (hopefully not blueish).
Tomorrow I start work around the cottage and am looking forward to it. Everyone here is very sweet and nice. Heidi told me I found the right, and best, place to be :) Currently there are no guests besides an Australian musician who leaves in a week. I can't wait to explore some more!!!
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